It is Xmas (as good as and no more work !) so in the best traditions of Xmas we have transfer speculation !
For the Daily Mirror they repeat a story from when MON was appointed at Sunderland and link James Collins to a move there. Doubt many people will be disappointed at that.
They also report that Millwall will pay £400K for reserve team centre back Shane Lowry. Je did show some promise but never made it at villa, never seemed good enough to be honest but will be a decent First Division player.
The Daily Mail also mention us in a story relating to Bobby Zamora which is possible but frankly he is not that good. There is a certain patter you have moticed in all the links so far ….
Merry Christmas to all Villa fans and enjoy yourselves before the aerial bombardment at Stoke !!
Aston Villa News 24/7
How much does our Academy cost to operate per year? I’m guessing that 400k pounds probably covers a few years’ of expenses.
I think I read around £1.5M a year in total
That’s half-a-Heskey!
Keep uP the good work Ian, definitely better blogs of late with a reasoned opinion, rather than the “must win or go” approach from Jan to Nov. As for Collins……see ya and good riddance
I guess it is down to a change in the situation, Remeber the blog I wrote about the potential of an economic collapse, that is the game changer.
Merry christmas ian and all villa fans
And yeah keep up the gd blog ian up the villa
A bit to old to have a Christmas wish list, but if it were possible all I want is…..
The club I have supported my whole life to relive the heady days when we were seen as one of the top sides in the land and europe.
Be rid of the ‘blue nose muppet’ AM and all he stands for.
Fill our stadium once again and make a noise like only Villa fans can.
Shan’t be holding my breath though
LLTV
be rid!! i’m fed up of it now, get mcleish out, get him out, the villa fans are childish! so ok, he goes! and who replaces him and this person will be in the same boat as mcleish, i wish he’d attack more yes and that will most likely be the only thing a new manager would change but guess what the players we have are average and are not top 8 fodder! we go toe to toe with arsenal, city, utd, everton or spurs we get beat because we simply do not have the players and now no money, expect us to finish 14th maybe 15th but blame that american twat who has gone the wrong way about things like he did with cleveland browns, they did warn us…
Big Eck is a scapegoat plain and simple, he was put in charge of the club because RL knew we would be so angry about a blue nose we would not be worried about the lack of money going into squad development.
I am not happy about the McTwat appointment, but a part of me thinks he is having to do a job with players that are over paid, over rated and over the idea of actually winning a game of football.
Wish list:
1) McLeish resigns on Christmas Day morning
2) Manchester City want to sign Hutton and offer Micah RIchards plus £10m in part exchange
3) Falkner exposed for his love of goats and is fired and I get his job
4) Leicester buy Heskey for £1m
5) Fulham buy Dunne for £3m and a second hand Michael Jackson statue
6) Stephen Ireland buys a house in Birmingham after he fell in love with the Perry Barr flyover
7) Darren Bent starts to get some service and scores 40 league goals
8) The Doug Ellis Stand is renamed The William McGregor Stand
9) The North Stand is rebuilt. Don’t care about what it’s called, the Durex Ribbed Enclosure will do if it means I don’t have to look at it again!!!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Haha! Merry christmas all – UTV!
he will have to replace collins, who?? is the question, who can we afford!?? and as for zamora he aint that good, he works hard, gives 110% can hold the ball up well id say he’s better than heskey and would help bent up top, unless of course QPR sign Bent and zamora partners gabby???? so many questions yet so little answers, he says dont expect us to be busy january ins or outs but then we’re linked with everyone saying that he said n’zogbia would be last bit of business but hutton n jenas arrived, i dont know, how the mighty have fallen….
Cuellar is better than Collins and Clark is also better, if not, likely to get better than Collins. Then we have Baker coming through behind Collins. I”ll be glad for McLiesh to finally end this Collins and Dunne partnership, that was good for 5/6 months at the beginning, but has been poor quite often, and very inconsistent since.
Clark is potentially better than Collins.
But surely fcuking wankre villa fans will scrutinise Clark when he make mistakes, boo and fcuk him.
Can yo imagine what would happen to Clark in the end ?
yes i know this but we need 4 centre backs, at the end of day if clark gets injured we’ll be fucked, you are forgetting cuellar is 31 & dunne is 32 not spring chickens, id keep collins til summer, sell him & get samba in from blackburn partner samba & clark at the back, cuellar & dunne could be back up, wouldnt be that bad..
Just to remind everyone, Enda Stevens joins us proper in January. Plays centre back/left back.
Yeah but he’s from the Irish League. He won’t see the first team for 2 years IF he makes it. He’s only a prospect mate.
Could turn out to be another Salifou (the Togo Zidane!!!). At least he was good at dodgin bullets!
He could also be the next Roy Keane.
Admittedly he’d be off to the Sky4 before u know it – thanks for the lack of ambition Randy.
Merry Xmas fellow Villans!!!!!
fucking duff and andrews linked and we have a guy in greece injured who barely misplaced a pass last year when he played for us i was at the united game and he had well over 90 per cent pass completion.Our club will never ever push for honours now maybe a lucky cup run like the shite did… collins and dunny are bullying defenders like the physical side but the game has moved on its more tchnocal positioning movement etc it winds me up that cyababe had said i was to join villa this season until mr h left him and makoun in middle would have had me looking forward to that with bent up top and new centre backs oh what could have been..utv lads enjoy your xmas day
Anyone but McLiesh please!!!!! Lets give Zamora the Managers job that will do for me anyone that isn’t ginger, Scottish, & a 3rd rate serial loser!!!!
Why o why do we get lumbered with these managers? The worst thing is we end up paying them off!!!!! Grrrrrrr!
Give someone with claret and blue blood the job, Sid Cowans with Ian Taylor and Martin Laursen as his deputies. No managerial experience? So fuckin what at least they would play the yoof!!!
VTID!
McLeish, Lerner, Faulkner, Heskey, Ireland, Collins, warnock OUT
I bet u chant that over your Xmas dinner whilst stabbing at your sprouts!!!!
Sorry I forgot the bald bellend Hutton aswell
U forgot fatty dunne as well. Useless tub of lard with a mistake in him every game
out hutton lowry heskey yes collins not sure about we dont seem to have
cover for collins if we start with carlos an dunne then id be happy to see
collins come off the bench whilst i like clarke i just trust collins more
i dont mind saying that id like to see the kids from the academy get in the team
but only if its going to make us a better team is clarke better then collins not sure
I like Collins his distribution is a little lack lustre, but on there day Dunne and Collins at the back have done a good job. He has 18 months left of his contract we would atm now probably get 4- 5 million for him and we have a player waiting in the ranks as Ciaran Clark. I am also sure Collins wages are higher than they should be
Lowry came through the youth is half decent and would do well at a club like Millwall so sell.
I read somewhere last night that Habib Beye could be off to Doncaster for the rest of the season, this has made my Xmas that little bit more special
Having watched the villa now for almost 26 years I can honestly say I have never seen a top level footballer out of position more often than James Collins. He gets away with it because of his willingness to put his body on the line but more often than not it is because he is out of position in the first place and 90% of the goals we concede can be traced back to his poor defending/positioning…need to get rid asap!
……….
Well said that man!
I only came on here to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and thanks Ian for your hard work maintaing the blog. Happy Christmas all and enjoy your turkey, beer, wine, religious festival (if applicable), Queen’s Speech, Scrabble, presents, stockings, Christmas nooky, Slade etc, etc, etc, etc
I would have Cuellar and Clark ahead of Collins, who positioning is awful. Yes, he gives his all and some great block tackles, but mainly because his positioning was p poor in the first place.
why would you pick cueller or clark in front of collins ? you could have vidic and even he is going to look out of place when you have that crappy hutton along side you
getting rid of collins would be a start, hope this is true